GREENFIELD — The rainwater comes down through the roof, staining the tiles and snaking along the floor-to-ceiling windows.
Most businesses would simply put down buckets, perhaps, until a more permanent solution could be found. At Shares Inc. in Greenfield, however, a dilapidated roof means moving about 20 adults, some with profound disabilities, to another room and blocking the doorways to the classroom.
Leaks through the roof of the 47,000-square-foot facility could put clients using walkers or wheelchairs in danger if they got close to wet floors, officials said. The problem has sparked a $35,000 fundraising campaign for Shares, which serves some 600 adults with disabilities per year, said fund development associate Nesetta Gellizeau.
“To replace the entire roof will cost $100,000 total,” she said. “For us, it’s a really big undertaking.”
The repairs can’t be put off much longer, instructors said. In the living skills day program, the water was so pervasive, the teachers had to take down educational decorations and move classroom supplies to keep them from being ruined, said Samantha Beauchat, an instructor.
Beauchat, Mary Hendron and Lisa McKim, all instructors for people with more profound disabilities that prevent them from working, said they look forward to the repairs, since the leaks often force them and their clients out of their classroom.
Gellizeau has written applications for grants from the Hancock County Community Foundation and local nonprofit utility company NineStar Connect, she said. In addition, the nonprofit organization has teamed up with Vail’s Classic Cars to offer cruise-in car shows from 5 to 8 p.m. on the first Tuesday of every month through September. Shares will provide free barbecue from BBQ’n Fools while supplies last during the free events, she said.
There’s no registration fee to be a part of the car show, and all cars are welcome, according to a news release.
Donations given during the car shows at Vail’s Classic Cars, 2633 W. Main St., Greenfield, will support the roof replacement project as well as a wish list for instructors that is used to purchase items like wheelchair swings and communication devices to help enrich the lives of Shares’ clients, Gellizeau said.
Shares Inc., headquartered in Shelbyville, has five facilities across in Hancock, Rush and Shelby counties. The organization, established in 1977, has eight programs aimed at helping adults with disabilities to attain skills, improve their self-sufficiency, she said.
In addition, Shares’s transportation services travel some 200,000 miles a year to deliver clients from home to Shares facilities and to provide inclusion opportunities in the community, Gellizeau said.
